Storm Boy Trailer

A beautiful and contemporary retelling of Colin Thiele’s classic Australian tale. ‘Storm Boy’ has grown up to be Michael Kingley, a successful retired businessman and grandfather. When Kingley starts to see images from his past that he can’t explain, he is forced to remember his long-forgotten childhood, growing up on an isolated coastline with his father. He recounts to his granddaughter the story of how, as a boy, he rescued and raised an extraordinary orphaned pelican, Mr. Percival. Their remarkable adventures and very special bond has a profound effect on all their lives. Based on the beloved book, Storm Boy is a timeless story of an unusual and unconditional friendship.

DIRECTED BY: Shawn Seet

PRODUCED BY: Matthew Street & Michael Boughen

SCREENPLAY BY: Justin Monjo

CAST: Jai Courtney, Geoffrey Rush, Finn Little, Trevor Jamison, Morgana Davies, Erik Thompson

US DISTRIBUTOR: Good Deed Entertainment

RUN TIME: 98 minutes

RATING: PG

The Dove Take: Storm Boy is a deeply touching film about holistic stewardship that shows characters in an intimate light as they learn how to protect what they love.

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In Theaters April 5

http://www.fandango.com

To Dust Movie Review

If you are or are not curious about what happens to us after we die, what happens to the shell we are currently housed, you will enjoy this film. Whether you are or are not religious, you won’t be able to hold back the laughs. Whether you are or are not a big fan of Matthew Broderick, you will be after watching how he manipulates the written word here to have you laughing at practically everything he says, even when he’s literally describing a rotting corpse! ā€˜To Dust’ is hysterical. Broderick is hysterical. See this wonderful dark comedy which for some reason is listed as a drama. At times it does seem heavy. Regardless, you’re anything but brought to tears in this yarn, unless it’s because of Broderick’s dry humor. It’s so dry that if the temperature goes up one degree more, the room may catch fire. Broderick’s not only skilled in the comedy division but he’s also charming as his character Albert takes the time to help Geza Rohrig’s (Son of Saul) character Schmuel, a pained Orthodox Jew who just lost his wife to cancer.

Though Schmuel has two young sons, he can’t move on. Not even for them. He’s tormented and needs to be assured of something before he’ll ever be able to embrace life, even his beliefs, again. At the beginning of the film, we see his wife’s body being prepared for burial. It’s washed, wrapped in cloth and put in a simple pine box. Thirty days after, he still can’t get over her passing. He’s assaulted with dark visions of his wife lingering on this earth, unable to be free. There’s a prologue when the film starts that explains to the audience a strong belief that he holds dear. This is, ā€˜Then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return unto God who gave it.’ Now that she’s in the ground, as haunted with these terrible images as he is, he must know if his wife is becoming dust, has become dust already or if she ever will.

Not receiving help from his own community, he goes to the nearby community college and seeks advice from their science professor, Albert. Albert isn’t interested at first but feels strangely compelled to comfort Schmuel after Schmuel tells him that he’s sinning by even seeking his guidance. He wouldn’t be there but he fears for his wife’s soul. Albert helps with the best tool he can think of… a science book. Broderick gives a unique and humorous reading from the textbook that explains what the body goes through after death, along with the approximate time frame. As if we were all in school again, director Shawn Snyder’s has an ingenious idea to use a pig and time-lapse photography to show us the rotting flesh the science professor describes. Albert’s play-by-play is so subtle and flippant in tone that even though the dialogue is a man taking another man through the journey of a dead, decaying body, you can’t help but find it amusing. Now that’s art!

What happens next is hard to imagine. One person willing to help another in the way Albert becomes willing to help Schmuel is unbelievable but crafted comedically as to not be purely ridiculous, thus making the film even that more pleasing to watch. The stage for Schmuel’s growth is set. Soon everyone can go back to life as normal. Unable to easily appease the most curious man on the planet, Albert attempts to alleviate his concern by helping Schmuel with an experiment. Schmuel can no longer accept what’s in a textbook and must see for himself what happens to a body. Literally, SEE for himself. To the forest, they go. Months after they bury a stolen pig, the pair check in on the progress of the flesh of the pig as it turns to ash. He’s distraught to see that it’s discolored and swollen but there’s no trace of ash. Albert continues to humor him and listens to him, offers some scientific theory, while at the same time trying desperately to end their connection. But then he finds something in Knoxville, TN that they may have to explore. Something that may finally move this along. A corpse farm! Now it’s a road trip movie!

This film is indescribably psychotic and demented yet in an incredibly unique and fun way. It’s bananas and irresistibly entertaining. It’s impossible not to connect to one, if not both, of these characters. ā€˜To Dust’ is one to see.

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*Playing at Phoenix Harkins Shea

2018 Awards Winners vs. MY picks!

This yearsĀ Academy AwardĀ®-Winners were quite different than what I had anticipated but what and who won was hardly disappointing. 2018 was a good year in film and in several catagories, it was hard to choose who I thought was the more worthy of the gold. Here are my pics for some of the best. My ultimate choice for the winner in theseĀ categoriesĀ will be in bold type and italics following a list of four others, in order of best to worst, that I sent to the Phoenix Critics Circle to be widdled down for our Oscar nominations.

Under my choice will be the selections that were in the envelopes on awards night. How’d I do?? Keep in mind these are sent in early.
*Again, my choices are listed below but HERE is a link to the Phoenix Critics Circle and the winners we sent to the Academy this year. You’ll notice that some groups are ours and ours alone.Ā 

Best Film – BlacKkKlansman, Roma,Ā First Reformed, A Star Is Born, Leave No Trace

Academy AwardĀ®-Winner: Green Book

Best Director – Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman, Alfonso Cuaron for Roma, Yorgos Lanthimos for The Favourite, Bradley Cooper for A Star is Born, Paul Dano for Wildlife

Academy AwardĀ®-Winner:Ā Alfonso Cuaron

Best Film Based on a Graphic Novel or Comic Book – Black Panther, Venom, Deadpool 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp

Best Documentary – Free Solo, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, RBG, Active Measures, McQueen

Academy AwardĀ®-Winner: Free Solo

Best Foreign Language Film – Roma, Cold War, Shoplifters, The Interpreter, Burning

Academy AwardĀ®-Winner: Roma

Best Animated Feature – Isle of Dogs, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Incredibles 2, The Grinch, Ralph Breaks the Internet

Academy AwardĀ®-Winner: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Horror Features – A Quiet Place, Halloween, The First Purge, Hereditary, Upgrade

Best Science Fiction Film – Ready Player One, Solo, The Predator, The Meg, Annihilation

Best Comedy – The Favourite, Game Night, Eighth Grade, Crazy Rich Asians, Sorry to Bother You

Best Actor – Ethan Hawke for First Reformed, Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody, TimothĆ©e Chalamet for Beautiful Boy, Bradley Cooper for A Star Is Born, Joaquin Phoenix for You Were Never Really Here

Academy AwardĀ®-Winner:Ā Rami MalekĀ 

Best Supporting Actor – Adam Driver for BlacKkKlansman, Richard E. Grant for Can You Ever Forgive Me? Steve Carell for Beautiful Boy, Michael B. Jordan for Black Panther, Stephan James for If Beale Street Could Talk

Academy AwardĀ®-Winner:Ā Mahershala Ali — Green Book

Best Actress – Melissa McCarthy for Can You Ever Forgive Me? Lady Gaga for A Star is Born, Emily Blunt for Mary Poppins Returns, Yalitza Aparicio for Roma, Felicity Jones for On the Basis of Sex

Academy AwardĀ®-Winner:Ā Olivia ColmanĀ 

Best Supporting Actress – Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk, Emma Stone for The Favourite, Olivia Colman for The Favourite, Carey Mulligan for Wildlife, Meryl Streep for Mary Poppins Returns

Academy AwardĀ®-Winner:Ā Regina King

Best Screenplay – Eighth Grade, First Reformed, Roma, The Favourite, Isle of Dogs

Academy AwardĀ®-Winner: Green Book by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly

Best Score – First Man, If Beale Street Could Talk, Black Panther, Green Book, Mary Poppins Returns
Academy AwardĀ®-Winner: Black Panther, Ludwig Goransson

IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THESE MOVIES YET… DO!!!
They couldn’t all win but they could have. Yes. 2018 was a marvelous year in film!! Try and see as many of the listed as possible… even the documentaries. I promise you’ll be surprised and how good they are and thoroughly entertained.Ā  Ā Ā 

Untogether Movie Review

ā€˜Untogether’ can be described as a film that’s, by several degrees, uninteresting, unrelatable, and almost unwatchable. However, the word ā€˜almost’ is important to remember here. After sitting through the first scene, a scene that has Dornan’s ā€˜Nick’ asking if he can complete his act of lovemaking in the face of Jemima Kirke’s ā€˜Andrea,’ I expected to ultimately like it less than I did. Her response, by the way, made it clear she didn’t know him enough for that action to occur… just yet. I’m not going to tell you that I liked the movie but rather summarize it by saying it does succeed in being unique. However, it’s the struggle for that uniqueness that also made it so frustrating to watch. Instead of taking the audience down a more structured path, the storyline was all over the place. What could have been flagged a triumph of a directorial debut for Emma Forrest, who also wrote the script, will instead be considered a veritable disaster.Ā 

With Emma Forrest’s script, we’re given small flashes into several dysfunctional lives that aren’t defined enough to care anything about. It’s as if she’s telling a well-guarded secret but still trying desperately to hide it from her audience. By the time we learn what she’s kept hidden from us, it may be too late. We may have already developed some animosity for the way she controlled the flow of information and decided we’re not going to like the film. If you stick it out, it’s only to see how everything works out for Andrea but not necessarily because of any clearly defined genius on the behalf of the filmmaker. Yes. That’s a win for her writing because there are glimpses of reflection and deep contemplation with Andrea, but the real reason to stay is for the acting. Actresses and real-life sisters, Jemima Kirke and Lola Kirke, are magnetic and unforgettable.

We follow the friends-with-benefits relationship of Andrea, a writer who recently met (and enjoys time and sex with) Nick, the writer of a popular memoir. She’s attempting to get to know him better because he makes her feel safe. With the dispirited and dismal dialogue they share and the degrading sex they have, I can’t fathom Andrea being interested long… maybe he’s a phase. She’s young and excitable and, I’m happy to report, does eventually school Nick about how to love ā€˜em and leave ā€˜em. Using his celebrity, he likes to go through women as if they’re used tissue but he finds Andrea rather difficult to let go of. His character couldn’t get more self-centered and shallow, so he becomes shaken when she doesn’t play along like the others. Once you get to know her character, you revel in her strength and can’t believe she’d want anyone like him. Did she lose a bet? As I’ve mentioned, to his face there are times when she refuses to feed his narcissism, but when he’s not around, she can’t get the hot mess out of her head.

The set-up for her sister Tara (Lola) is bleak. So much so that it’s hardly worth mentioning. She’s with Ben (Mendelsohn), who worships her every move but instead desires David (Crystal), a rabbi who came into her spa for a massage. I feel compelled to mention that an unrecognizable Jennifer Grey plays his jealous wife, Josie. She too is a character this movie could have done without.

If you’d like to see competent actors deliver some thought-provoking and provocative lines of dialogue, it’ll take some patience on your part, but the movie will deliver on this front. You might want to watch this because you can’t fight the urge to see Dornan. If this is the case, you’ll be sad to learn that he covers his face with a thick beard that not only hides his beauty but doesn’t fit the character. He mumbles throughout the movie, as well, so I must congratulate Forrest on her choice of hiring the Kirke sisters. They save the film. At least she got things right with some of the casting.

*See it on VOD today!

The Secret Life of Pets 2 ‘Rooster’ Trailer

The Secret Life of Pets 2 will follow summer 2016’s blockbuster about the lives our pets lead after we leave for work or school each day. Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and his longtime collaborator Janet Healy will produce the sequel to the comedy that had the best opening ever for an original film, animated or otherwise.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 will see the return of writer Brian Lynch (Minions) and once again be directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable Me series, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax).Ā www.thesecretlifeofpets.com

Genre:Ā Comedy

Cast:Ā Lake Bell, Hannibal Buress, Dana Carvey, Harrison Ford, Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Pete Holmes, Garth Jennings, Ellie Kemper, Nick Kroll, Bobby Moynihan, Patton Oswald, Jenny Slate, Eric Stonestreet

Director:Ā Chris Renaud

Co-Director:Ā Jonathan Del Val

Writer:Ā Brian Lynch

Producers:Ā Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy

THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2Ā 

Official WebsiteĀ |Ā FacebookĀ |Ā TwitterĀ |Ā InstagramĀ |Ā YouTubeĀ | #TheSecretLifeofPets2

Angry Birds Movie 2

From Columbia Pictures’ and Sony Pictures Animation comesĀ THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2!


A hilarious all-star cast of new and returning talent are brought together as the flightless birds and scheming green pigs take their beef to the next level.
Directed by: Thurop Van Orman
Screenplay by: Peter Ackerman
Produced by: John Cohen
Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Leslie Jones, Bill Hader, Danny McBride, Peter Dinklage and Nicki Minaj

Follow them on Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/AngryBirdsMovie https://www.instagram.com/AngryBirdsM… https://www.twitter.com/AngryBirdsMovie

ROCKETMAN OPENS IN THEATRES MAY 31 – NEW TRAILER!


SYNOPSIS:

ROCKETMAN is an epic musical fantasy about the incredible human story of Elton John’s breakthrough years. The film follows the fantastical journey of transformation from shy piano prodigy Reginald Dwight into international superstar Elton John. This inspirational story – set to Elton John’s most beloved songs and performed by star Taron Egerton – tells the universally relatable story of how a small-town boy became one of the most iconic figures in pop culture. ROCKETMAN also stars Jamie Bell as Elton’s longtime lyricist and writing partner Bernie Taupin, Richard Madden as Elton’s first manager, John Reid, and Bryce Dallas Howard as Elton’s mother Sheila Farebrother.

DIRECTED BY:

Dexter Fletcher

WRITTEN BY:

Lee Hall

STARRING:

Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Gemma Jones and Bryce Dallas Howard

PRODUCED BY:

Matthew Vaughn, David Furnish, Adam Bohling, David Reid

EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY:

Elton John, Steve Hamilton Shaw, Michael Gracey, Claudia Schiffer, Brian Oliver

Follow ROCKETMAN on social media for more updates!

Facebook:Ā https://www.facebook.com/RocketmanMovie Twitter:Ā https://twitter.com/RocketmanMovie Instagram:Ā https://www.instagram.com/RocketmanMovie

In Theaters MAY 31

http://www.fandango.com

‘The Highwaymen’ starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson coming soon to Netflix!!

The outlaws made headlines. The lawmen made history. From director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side), THE HIGHWAYMEN follows the untold true story of the legendary detectives who brought down Bonnie and Clyde. When the full force of the FBI and the latest forensic technology aren’t enough to capture the nation’s most notorious criminals, two former Texas Rangers (Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson) must rely on their gut instincts and old school skills to get the job done.

*Launches globally on Netflix on March 29 with exclusive theatrical engagements beginning March 15th.

Distributor:Ā Netflix

Cast:Ā Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson, Kathy Bates, Kim Dickens

Directed by:Ā John Lee Hancock

Written by:Ā John Fusco

Producer:Ā Casey Silver

Executive Producers:Ā Michael J. Malone, John Lee Hancock, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Costner, Rod Lake

Music By:Ā Thomas Newman

Cinematography By:Ā John Schwartzman

Production Design By: Michael Corenblith

Costume Design By: Daniel Orlandi


*Follow @NetflixFilm onĀ 
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Triple Frontier Trailer

TRIPLE FRONTIER


DIRECTED BY
Ā | J.C. Chandor

STORY BYĀ |Ā Mark Boal

SCREENPLAY BYĀ | Mark Boal and J.C. Chandor

CASTĀ | Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund, Pedro Pascal, Adria Arjona

SYNOPSISĀ | A group of former Special Forces operatives (Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal) reunite to plan a heist in a sparsely populated multi-border zone of South America. For the first time in their prestigious careers these unsung heroes undertake this dangerous mission for self instead of country.Ā  But when events take an unexpected turn and threaten to spiral out of control, their skills, their loyalties and their morals are pushed to a breaking point in an epic battle for survival. Directed by Academy AwardĀ® nominee J.C. Chandor (Margin Call, All Is Lost, A Most Violent Year) and co-written by Chandor and Academy AwardĀ® winner Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty).

*In select theaters on March 6, 2019

and globally on

Netflix March 13, 2019

For More Info:

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#Netflix #TripleFrontier

VisitĀ netflix.com/triplefrontier

In Theaters March 13, 2019

http://www.fandango.com

Netflix film ‘The Dirt,’ co-written by members of Mƶtley Crüe, launches everywhere 3/22!!

A Netflix film

THE DIRT

Launches Globally March 22


Based on the bestselling autobiography from Mötley Crüe, the film is an unflinching tale of success and excess as four misfits rise from the streets of Hollywood to the heights of international fame.



Starring
Ā Douglas Booth,Ā Iwan Rheon,Ā Colson Baker,Ā Daniel Webber

Directed byĀ Jeff Tremaine

Produced byĀ Julie Yorn,Ā Erik Olsen,Ā Allen Kovac

Executive produced byĀ Rick Yorn,Ā Chris Nilsson,Ā Steve Kline,Ā Ben Ormand,Ā Michelle Manning

Written byĀ Rich Wilkes,Ā Amanda Adelson


Based on the autobiography

The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band

Co-written by the band members of Mötley Crüe and Neil Strauss